Friday, December 31, 2010

As I look forward to yet another year of my journey, I've been thinking about what I want to do. In 2010, my only real challenges were to cook one new recipe per week and be meatless on Mondays. In 2010, I made over 60 different recipes for the first time and Mondays were completely vegetarian (as were Thursdays for a couple months). I also ran my first 5K (a last minute challenge), went over 2 months without using exercise videos, and completed all 7 stages of New Rules of Lifting for Women.

So now what? I want to get stronger in 2011. I'm going to keep my lifting simple. I want to get faster in 2011. I'm going to run at least one (unofficial) 5K per month, and the First Flight 5K in April. In November, I intend to run the Outer Banks 8K. I want to ride my bike more often, play tennis with my husband, and maybe hit the beach for some swimming.

In terms of nutrition, I want to cut back on the processed foods. I want to become a better cook, and try more recipes. I don't know that I'm going to keep a blog entry linking to everything I try. I tend to forget to do the links. There are hundreds of recipes I want to try, though.

Maybe my biggest goal for 2011 is to be more directly involved with support and motivation for others who are struggling with weight loss, health, and fitness. It's one thing to do my daily blogs and throw out random advice on message boards, but I need to spend more time actively encouraging people (online and in real life) - when they ask for it, of course.

And just to look at the trend for the last 4 years:

On January 1, 2007, I weighed 191 pounds.
On January 1, 2008, I weighed 150 pounds.
On January 1, 2009, I weighed 154.5 pounds.
On January 3, 2010, I weighed 134.5 pounds.

standing barbell press 5x5x45 lbs
dumbbell bench press 3x6x35 lbs
assisted pull up 3x12 - I had problems with these. On the descent, my right forearm, by my elbow, would cramp up. That has never happened.

I followed up with Fire 30 and Stretch 10. I burned 251 calories during Fire. So for that and the weights, I'll take 4 activity points.

Food:
baked oatmeal [6]
apple [0] & cottage cheese [4]
cupcake batter [3] - I was making cupcakes from scratch and had to make sure the batter wasn't gaglicious.
banana [0]
homemade vegetarian pizza [14] - I sauteed some onions, green peppers & garlic [all 0] in olive oil [1]. Other toppings were cheese [2] and sauce [2]. I made a whole wheat & honey pizza crust. What I actually did was divide the entire dough recipe into 4 (I froze 3) portions. I made a "personal" pizza out of that fourth, for 8-9 points, depending on which nutritional information is used. To be safe, I counted it as [9].
cookie dough cupcake w/ frosting [5] w/ skim milk [1]
apple [0]
tomato [0] sandwich [3]

One coffee w/ milk [1] & several teas. I met my GHGs, used all of my daily and activity points, and have 45 weekly points remaining. I ate more carbs than I wanted to today :(

I don't think I've ever done a power clean before. I practiced beforehand with just the bar and about wore myself out. I still don't think I was getting it right. I did one rep at 35 pounds, but it was way too light so I bumped it up a bit. It still felt light but I wanted to get the form down. Hopefully I will be able to increase the weight quickly. I sure wish I had a second barbell so I could make this a circuit. They are fun, though!

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

I am using the intermediate 4 day split, along with some Turbo Fire workouts for cardio. I've set a bit of an ambitious schedule, with HIIT on weight training days and longer workouts on non-weight days.

dumbbell bench press 5x5x37.5 lbs

barbell push press 1x5x65 lbs

assisted chin up 3x12 - I did 2 unassisted in each set.

It felt good to be working out again. This workout didn't take all that long because I made it a circuit. I probably shouldn't because these exercises all work the same area, but time is critical.

After weights, I did the Fire 30 & Stretch 10 workouts from Turbo Fire. This stuff is no freaking joke. I love Chalene Johnson and am a Turbo fan for life but this kicked my ass!! It's incredibly fast-paced and there are a lot of new moves to learn on the fly. For Fire 30, I burned 289 calories in that short 30 minutes. I didn't wear my HRM for the stretch. That's just gravy.

One coffee [1] and several teas. I met my GHGs, used all of my daily points and 3 of my activity points. I don't roll my activity points, so one is going unused. I still have 49 weekly points remaining.

Monday, December 27, 2010

I am starting my new program off with a rest day!! I spent 13 hours in the truck, driving home from New York. I think I am going to just shift everything by one day, then go with the schedule I wrote out before I left for vacation.

Sunday, December 26, 2010

I tried to be really good. Fortunately, I've had to eat slowly and carefully since my gums are still healing and it's very awkward to eat with the bridge in. I prefer to take it out to eat. To be honest, I prefer to be without it unless I'm in public.

Wednesday was my travel day. At home, I ate baked oatmeal and cream of broccoli soup. On the 12-hour trip, I stuck mostly to more baked oatmeal, cottage cheese, and bananas. We had cookies that my son had made Monday, but they were too hard for me to eat. I did buy a three-bean salad from the store on the way. It was good, but had too much canola oil.

On Thursday, I continued to eat my good foods, but I also tried a few Christmas treats. I couldn't eat nearly as much as I usually could, to I'm quite thankful for this week's dental work. I ate enough to make me think, "Okay, these were good but I'm really not feeling well." I counted the points for them and moved on.

Friday started off right - with eggs & olive oil and fruit. I had some vegetables then some goodies. Not enough to binge on but enough to definitely make me feel sick.

Saturday was all about not throwing up from the sugar I'd eaten Friday. I did overeat on Christmas dinner but no binges! Same thing on Sunday. I didn't bother with points but I kept the stuffing my face to a moderate level.

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

No workout again today. I doubt I will get any exercise this week, but I'm okay with that.

On the dental work front, things are going well. There's not much pain, still just some pressure under the denture but not as bad as yesterday.

Food:
cottage cheese [5]
baked oatmeal [6]
cream of broccoli soup [6]
banana [0] - Okay, so it was a frozen banana thrown into the food processor and therefore "ice cream" but I needed a fruit serving.
cheese [2] omelet [3] w/ sauteed [1] peppers & sweet hot sauce [1], bear sausage [3] - The bear sausage was incredible difficult for me to chew but it tasted to good. It took me quite a while to eat this meal.

Two coffees [2] and some tea. I am drinking a lot slower than normal. I don't know if I got all my fruit & vegetable servings in. It's possible. I managed to eat all of my daily points though, and I have 49 weekly points remaining.

Monday, December 20, 2010

No workout today. I got my wisdom teeth and 4 more extracted today. I might workout tomorrow, but mainly the stress just makes me want to sleep. We're leaving for New York Wednesday night so there's lots to do.

A little about the teeth. I'm not in any pain, but I'm not ready to try eating solid foods just yet. I attempted to nibble on a cookie but even the crumbs felt awkward. I have an immediate partial denture in my lower front and it's going to take a while to get used to it. And of course, by the time I do, it will be time for my "permanent" denture. I've got acrylic right now, and I'm hoping to upgrade to the flexible stuff once all the swelling goes down and my gums heal.

I'm mostly bummed that I didn't get my coffee today. It was a hit to my dairy servings!

Two teas and a little water. I got my GHGs, barely. Oh wait, no I didn't, as I only got one serving of protein from the cottage cheese. I think. I never know what's considered a serving of protein. Oh, and I had the egg, so maybe I did get my two servings. I don't care. I didn't use all my daily points, either, though I'm only 5 under. I don't care. I'm just tired and want to go to sleep. I still have 49 weekly points remaining.

Sunday, December 19, 2010

Up another half pound today. So I've done nothing but gain on the new Weight Watchers program LOL. It's not the program. It's me. Being in my healthy range, I fluctuate a lot, even when I eat perfectly. Which I haven't been, but I've been eating within the "rules" of the program. I get my dairy and oils and I choose whole grains when I eat them. I don't eat a ton of grains. I could stand to get more vegetables and less fruit though. Fruit is high in sugar and I'm carb sensitive anyway. Apples never bother me so it must be the bananas and now, grapes.

Saturday, December 18, 2010

Food:
oatmeal [4] w/ apple [0]
banana [0], cheese [6] & pepperoni [4] - I picked these up at a gas station. I really wanted some candy bars.
chicken sandwich [13] & fries [11] from Chik-fil-A - I was craving a chicken sandwich and I don't know when I'll be able to eat one again after my dental work on Monday. On the plus side, I did only eat half in the restaurant and the other half about an hour later.
venison tenderloin [3] w/ roasted carrots [2]
cottage cheese [2] & grapes [0]

Two coffees [4] and several teas. I blew threw my daily points and met my GHGs. I only have 9 weekly points remaining. Overall, a disappointing day.

Friday, December 17, 2010

This was my last weight lifting workout for this round! I'm "off" next week, then back with a new routine the week after that. 2 activity points for this. And atomic push ups still suck!

It was another of my weird long days where I work both jobs at the school and can only snack with whatever can go in my bag. I need to get some nuts, but I can so easily overeat those. Even if I measure out a portion, they don't satisfy me.

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

No major increases in weight to speak of with this workout. The planks can sure bite me. 2 activity points.

Food:

hard boiled eggs [4]

baked curly fries [6] & banana [0]

chicken noodle soup [7]
grilled cheese [6]

cheese [4] & apple [0]

Two coffees [2] and several teas. I met my GHGs (thank you, cheese) and ate all of my daily points, but my activity points are going unused. I'm just not hungry and I could have done without the grilled cheese but I used it to get more dairy and one of my oils. I have 45 weekly points remaining.

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

I really need a structured program like P90X or ChaLean Extreme so I'm not blowing off cardio. I wonder if it's time to do Insanity. I would love to, but I'm making such good progress with my strength training and I do not want to give it up. I'll have to look at the schedule and see if I can squeeze in the upper body workout that comes with Insanity. I don't really care for it. I could do my own thing, too, I suppose. I'll have to play with it.

Thursday, December 9, 2010

2 activity points for this. I feel like I am never going to progress with my RDL. It used to be my favorite :( It was really hard to do them today because my thighs are all bruised up from cookie dough boxes. The bar kept hitting the sore spots.

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

I did not work out today. I didn't even want to get out of bed. I'm so sick from the stress of the cookie dough fundraiser and working with snot-covered first graders last week. I want to sleep for a week.

One coffee [1] and several teas. I met my GHGs but I'm still 6 points shy of my daily target. I've been eating enough fruit and vegetables that I'm just not hungry. I still have 49 weekly points remaining.

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Busy, busy day today. As fundraising chair for the PTA, my big project lately has been overseeing the cookie dough sales. Today, the orders arrived. I spent the morning unloading a truck full of cookie dough, sorting, transporting, loading cards. Then I spent the entire afternoon moving boxes, stacking them on tables, stacking them on carts, putting them in people's cars. My shoulder is killing me. I am completely exhausted.

Monday, December 6, 2010

2 activity points for this. I really don't care much for mountain climbers. I was not in the mood to do this today. I slept a little longer than normal because I wasn't feeling well (dry air) and intended to work out after my son's allergy shots. Then I was asked to sub in the after school program for a while, and by the time we got home from shots after that, it was pretty late. Then I had tons of last minute stuff to do to get ready for tomorrow's suddenly rescheduled to earlier in the morning cookie dough delivery. I just wanted to bail. But I didn't.

Three coffees [3] and several teas. I met my GHGs, used all my dailies, and finally dipped into my weeklies. I have 36 weekly points going unused this week. I really, really like the new Weight Watchers Points Plus plan!

Saturday, December 4, 2010

Food:
apple [0] & cottage cheese [5]
gingerbread house icing [6] - Damn sugar! I estimated, then caught myself and threw the rest of the leftovers away.
raw vegetables [0]
half a banana [0] - My son stole half right out of my hand.
homemade chicken noodle soup [14] - This was for the entire batch, which I ate in 2 parts, about an hour apart.
oatmeal cookie [2] - I had to try out the recipe I found for using up my spare packets of instant oatmeal. I made smaller cookies than the recipe calls for. They are pretty good.

Two coffees [2] and several teas. I met my GHGs and used all of my daily points. I still have all 49 weekly points left. I'm scared to use them. Really. I know I need to eat more though.

Thursday, December 2, 2010

It was a long, long day. I had a 7 AM PTA meeting, then straight to work. Then another meeting. Then my other subbing job. THEN a school function that we were supposed to attend, but Sebastian changed his mind at the last minute. I had to plan my meals very carefully so I'd have stuff to eat between "things" and I think I did fairly well.

Two coffees [2] & several teas. I met my GHGs but I'm short 4 points for the day. And I still have 49 weekly points remaining. I have to figure something out because I need to eat more. I don't really feel hungry, but I know I am not eating enough. I definitely need more protein but I hate re-heated food (especially meat) and I can't cook fresh food at lunch (or eat what we serve in the cafeteria).

Two coffees [2] and several teas. I used all my daily and activity points, and have 49 weekly points remaining. I'm struggling to get my 29 daily points every. I don't know why. I'm worried that I will feel pressured to use all my weekly points over the weekend just because I have them to use. Next weekend when I actually need them for a fundraiser, I won't have them. LOL